Indonesia’s Muslim youth want a ‘caliphate’

“Ahok” Tjahaha Purnama former governor of Jakarta was jailed for two years for blasphemy

One in five Indonesia high school and university students would support the establishment of a caliphate in Indonesia. The poll of over 4000 young people in Java found that nearly 20 per cent gave their support to the Muslim political concept of a caliph.

A higher percentage said they would be willing, to varying degrees, to wage jihad to establish an Islamic state in the world’s most populous Muslim country. A spokesperson from the company which carried out the survey said that it indicated “intolerant teachings have already entered the top [Indonesian] universities and high schools.”

President Joko Widodo’s government has taken recent steps to uphold the state’s secular philosophy of religious equality and national unity (Pancasila), despite protests from Islamist groups, which now face being banned. In May, the Christian former governor of Jakarta, “Ahok” Tjahaha Purnama, was jailed for two years for blasphemy, after Islamists staged mass rallies demanding his prosecution. Ahok had used a verse from the Quran to refute claims that Muslims should not be governed by non-Muslims.